Residents and landlords of some communities in Ifo Local Government Area of Ogun state have cried for help after they were to abandon their houses and properties due to flood.
According to the victims, the rainy season worsened the situation forcing them to seek alternative temporary accommodation.
The affected communities are Oke-Aro, Matogbun, Olambe, Keredolu, Igbaotun, Araromi Oke-Odo and Adio-Alausa.
Speaking with Punch, a representative of the communities, Kazeem Agunbiade said;
“Floods are flowing into homes. The experience is discomforting for those who are affected. The roads are flooded a lot of the time during the rainy season. This will prevent many people from going out.
“There are some areas that are like valleys. So all the water will now deposit in that area. For five months, the water will remain stagnant. There are about three or four locations in some of these seven communities that we call waterbeds.
He also said, “In some of these areas, after the rain has gone, the landlords will deceive people and sell the buildings and leave the communities. In other places, some people just abandon their homes and disappear without looking back. Some other people moved to other communities.”
“About three years ago, a woman and her child were buried under one of the open channels. Her corpse and that of her child were found the second day. A man also slumped and died after the flood swept away his property. We have been abandoned by the government,”
Also on the issue, the Chairman of the Community Development Committee in charge of the communities, Baleng Bamidele, said the communities had written to the state Ministry of Environment but nothing was done after the officials of the ministry came to inspect the area.
He said, “We have written letters to the ministry and they came to inspect the areas. Since then, they never showed up. What we are suffering from is total neglect from the government.
“The communities have resorted to self-help. Everything we do here is based on communal effort right from the electricity pole to the construction and rehabilitation of drainages, among others.
“This is one of the reasons why there are many tolls in most of our communities which is not supposed to be so if the government had done the needful.”
Reacting to the situation when contacted, the Public Relations Officer, Ministry of Environment, Rotimi Oduniyi, said, “Tell them to provide the letter that was written to the ministry and have it sent to me so that I can follow it and provide you with a proper reply.”
